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Saradha scam: Suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh attempts suicide in prison cell

November 14, 2014

Saradha scamKolkata, Nov 14: Suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh, jailed in the Saradha chit fund case, was admitted to a Kolkata hospital in the wee hours of Friday after attempting suicide inside his high-security prison cell.

Ghosh, a member of Rajya Sabha, was rushed to the SSKM Hospital in the city after reportedly consuming more than 50 sleeping pills. Doctors carried out a gastric suction on him. His condition was said to be critical but stable. He is on oxygen support.

"He was brought here at 3am in a drowsy condition. He is better now," said Pradip Mitra, the director of Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in the hospital.

The guard deployed outside his cell at night noticed the MP was unconscious, and informed the jail officers. The local police station was informed, and Ghosh rushed to the hospital.

Doctors told HT he probably consumed tablets of the alprazolam group, a popular sedative, but it is still not known how he managed to get them inside the Presidency central jail. His prison cell is guarded by two securitymen.

A source told HT that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths will grill the jail authorities on how Ghosh accessed the sedatives.

Ghosh, in front of a judge, had threatened suicide on Monday unless the influential people named in the scam were not arrested within 72 hours.

"He was extremely depressed even during the last hearing (on Monday). We informed the court too. It is surprising how sedatives found their way inside the jail," said Soumyajit Raha, Kunal Ghosh's lawyer.

Ghosh, who was the chief executive officer of the media arm run by the Saradha Group, had earlier said he was made a scapegoat, and the 'biggest beneficiary' of the scam was Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

He had also accused other top Trinamool Congress leaders of being involved in the scam.

Alongside Saradha Group chief Sudipta Sen and his close associate Debjani Mukherjee, Ghosh has been named in a CBI chargesheet in connection with the case.

The ruling Trinamool Congress indefinitely suspended Ghosh in September last year after he embarrassed the party by alleging that its top leadership was trying to frame him.

The shadow of the Saradha chit fund scam has been hounding Banerjee and her government since it exploded in early 2013. The issue had triggered a storm during the Lok Sabha election campaign, with opposition parties training guns on Banerjee over the scam.

Last year, the Centre had ordered a multi-agency probe into the activities of the Kolkata-based group in the scandal estimated to be worth around Rs. 20,000 crore.

The company's promoters and top executives were accused by angry investors of creating a web of companies across several states in eastern India to dupe small depositors.

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News Network
May 15,2020

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala activist Rehana Fathima has been asked to take compulsory retirement from BSNL after she was embroiled in Sabarimala row.

Stating that her attempt to enter the shrine of celibate god in 2018 had spoiled the reputation of the company among customers, the BSNL, in its order asked her to take compulsory retirement, further claiming that her acts were “subversive of discipline and amount to misconduct”.

She was suspended from service following her arrest in November 2018 over Facebook posts.

Fathima, who is a technician with the state-run communications company, said she will explore legal remedies against the order sent by her employer.

The Fathima hit headlines when she attempted to enter the Sabarimala shrine, which has traditionally been closed to women in the age group of 10-50 years.

She did after the Supreme Court order allowing entry of women in the age group of 10-50.

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News Network
March 24,2020

Ahmedabad, Mar 24: The Gujarat police has detained 426 people in the last 24 hours for violating lockdown rules in force in the state to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak, a senior official said on Tuesday.

They include those who came out despite being advised home quarantine, state Director General of Police Shivanand Jha said.

"The lockdown met with around 90 per cent success. We are taking strict measures to implement the lockdown in the remaining 10-15 per cent areas. We have lodged 238 cases related to the violation of police notification and 127 cases related to quarantine rule violation. In all, we have detained 426 persons across the state," Jha told reporters in Gandhinagar.

"For better implementation of the lockdown and to address issues concerning people, we have set up a dedicated 24-hour control room and appointed two additional DGP rank officers to supervise operations. Three teams under them would work to resolve issues across the state," said Jha.

He said police commissioners and districts SPs have been asked to enforce the lockdown in an effective manner.

Essential services like vegetable and milk shops are allowed to remain open, he said, and asked people not to flock in large numbers to such shops.

The state has so far reported 33 COVID-19 cases, and one person has died of the infection.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: Even as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in various parts of India, more than 1 million people have recovered and discharged till now, informed Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health, here on Thursday.

"More than 1 million people have recovered from COVID-19 in the country. This landmark recovery has been achieved because of the selfless work and dedication of our doctors, nurses and frontline workers," Bhushan said at a press conference.

Giving the number of cured persons, Bhushan said, "More than 1,020,000 patients have recovered. They have been discharged. It is a great achievement."

He said, "The recovery rate has shown positive trends. It was 7.85 per cent in April and today it is 64.4 per cent, which is another heartening news which tells us that whatever battle is put by the Union government in collaboration with state governments is showing results."

"Sixteen states of the country have a recovery rate that is more than the national average. Of these, Delhi has a recovery rate of 88 per cent, Ladakh 80 per cent, Haryana 78 per cent, Assam 76 per cent, Telangana 74 per cent, Tamil Nadu & Gujarat 73 per cent, Rajasthan 70 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 69 per cent and Goa 68 per cent," Bhushan said.

He said effective clinical management lead to a decrease in case fatality rate. In June it was 3.33 per cent and now 2.21 per cent.

Bhushan said the case fatality rate in India today is 2.21 per cent and it's among the lowest in the world. Twenty-four states and Union Territories have lesser fatality rate than that of the country.

Herd immunity in a country of the size and population of India can not be a strategic option. It can only be achieved through immunisation.

"Over 18,190,000 tests have been conducted in the country including RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests. There has been a week-on-week increase in average tests per day. India is conducting 324 test per 10 lakhs population per day," Bhushan said.

He added, three vaccine candidates, are in phase 3 clinical trial. These three are in the US, UK and China. In India, two indigenously developed vaccine candidates are in phase I and II of clinical trials. 

Trial of the first vaccine involves 1,150 subjects at eight sites, second on 1,000 subjects at five sites.

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